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Abstract
Forgiveness is a personal struggle for many individuals. Individuals have to have time, put forth
effort, and work on changing how they forgive other individuals that have done them wrong. The
Christian belief is that forgiveness is one of the ways that integration of psychology and
Christianity can be put together as a whole. Many studies have been conducted on how
Christianity and psychology showing the use of integration. Forgiveness is the topic that is
mostly discussed and how individuals are affected. In the articles used from research, there is
discussion on how forgiveness is good for an individual’s well being. There is an explanation of
how Christianity and psychology combine and why this is important.
Keywords: forgiveness, psychology, Christianity, integration
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Forgiveness and The Relations to Psychology and Christianity
Forgiveness is a way of having peace and understanding of wrongdoing that has
happened in an individual’s life. When an individual has done something wrong or been hurt by
another individual, the individual goes through a process of forgiving oneself or the other
individual that has caused the hurt. The process that an individual goes through is letting go of
any anger, resentment, or any emotions that cause the individual to have negative thoughts.
When forgiving any wrongdoing that has been caused in an individual’s life, the individual will
be able to have a happier life and move forward in their life. Forgiveness is very helpful to an
individual’s health, well-being, and being able to have spiritual connection. Christian faith is a
way of being able to forgive and individuals sometimes do not understand what forgiveness
means. Christianity has a way of how forgiveness works, which is how forgiveness works
including God has a role in forgiveness. With individuals possibly having a hard time
understanding what forgiveness means, psychology is a science that helps to describe, predict,
and explain human thought, emotions, and behavior. Psychology and Christianity are two
different disciplines that explain how individuals can have a better life through the acts of
forgiveness. In this paper, there will be an understanding of how forgiveness relates to the
integration of psychology and Christianity and how individuals forgive themselves and others for
wrongdoings.
Integration of Psychology and Christianity
The worldview of an individual is how their perspective is of the world around them.
How an individual sees the world shows how they feel and think about the world. It is very
important to look at one’s worldview or things learned and understood from one’s home life and
even beyond. Psychology and Christianity both have different ways of how they think about
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human beings and how the world and human race are affected. Integration brings both
disciplines together in order to provide useful perspectives through which we can study and
understand human behavior, and together they can give us a more complete and accurate picture
of human nature and functioning than either perspective can provide alone (Entwistle, 2021).
When bringing both psychology and Christianity together, there is a more understanding of
humans compared to when the two and their concepts are kept separate.
Allies Model
The Allies Model is a model that focuses on the idea that all truth is known by God and
He is over everything. All things were created by God and if an individual wants to learn, they
must go through God to learn. The Allies model does not relate to psychology but relates to
Christianity because it dedicates itself to God. This model acknowledges how much worldviews
influence the way individuals feel and think about the world and what is going on around them.
This perspective affirms that psychology and Christian theology are both subject to God’s
sovereignty (Entwistle, 2021). It is very important to have a Christian perspective towards life
and an understanding of psychology. With both Christian perspective and understanding of
psychology, both disciplines are brought together to have a unified truth.
Models of Integration
There are five other models that Entwistle discusses and how they integrate psychology
and Christianity. The Enemies model chooses to keep parts of one discipline from those of the
other discipline. There are two parts to the Enemies model which are Secular Combatants and
Christian Combatants. Secular Combatants see religion as incompatible with mental health and
honest intellectual discourse (Entwistle, 2021). Christian Combatants see psychology as an
enemy which is opposed by sound doctrine, and they see the use of psychotherapy as
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incompatible with those who live victorious Christian lives (Entwistle, 2021). The Spies model
recognizes that both psychology and Christianity and the truth can be found in both. Those who
follow this model will choose either Christianity or psychology to commit to so that they can
identify things that are useful for their own ends. Colonialists model places the book of God’s
Word over the book of God’s Works, and thology over psychology (Entwistle, 2021). Those who
follow this model do not look at how psychology and Christianity both share the truth and how
they can be used to gain understanding of human nature. The Rebuilders model is one that looks
at psychology belonging to God. Those who follow this model have overtaken the model and do
not acknowledge or serve God and are in charge of psychology as a science. This approach
wants to rebuild psychology in a way that allows it to have a more Christian influence so that
God and the Bible are accepted as the truth. The Neutral Parties model believes that psychology
and Christianity are completely independent disciplines. Those who follow this model have to
carefully segregate psychology and Christianity so that the two do not infect each other.
Following a model that would allow an individual to use both psychology and Christianity will
help to better an individual’s mental and physical health.
Forgiveness in Psychology and Christianity
The topic of forgiveness was ignored for a long time in the psychological community.
Those who practiced psychology in their everyday lives would work everyday to help heal
relationships and wounds that caused individuals to feel hurt from wrong doings. The
psychologist would hardly discuss forgiveness with their clients. Forgiveness became used more
by psychologists and a topic that the psychologists used. There are three perspectives created that
McMinn discusses that were being used in psychology. The first perspective opposes any use of
forgiveness in therapy. The second perspective is that some psychologists see forgiveness as
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beneficial because of its ability to improve mental health. The third perspective was based on
that forgiveness is part of the Christian duty and see that forgiveness is a response of obedience
to God with personally beneficial consequences (McMinn, 2010).
Forgiveness affects a person’s well-being, relationships with others, mental and physical
health. To help with a person’s well-being and relationships with others, the individual has to be
willing to abandon self-resentment with their experience doing wrong and be compassionate,
generous, and love themselves. An individual is able to forgive themselves and will show
positive emotions, relationships, and achievement. In the study on self-forgiveness and
understanding how self-esteem is affected, there was discussion on how counselors could use
different types of practices to help individuals. The types of practices that counselors can use are
forensic, therapeutic, and redemptive forgiveness. Forensic forgiveness is a way for a counselor
to understand the cause of a person needing counseling to help forgive the person that caused the
pain. Therapeutic forgiveness is to help factor how their actions toward forgiveness and how the
interpersonal experience aid or hinder a person being able to forgive the offender. Redemptive
forgiveness is a way to be whole and heal.
As a counselor looking at Christian aspects of forgiveness, it is important to look at the
individual they are counseling to develop and increase knowledge about how an individual is
struggling with forgiveness. With the knowledge of the individual, a counselor will be able to
motivate the individual to use skills to look at the outside of the issue that has caused hurt and
have traumatic issues. True forgiveness comes from understanding how any individual is equally
prone to sin, which allows individuals to see themselves and others with empathy. Christians
believe that forgiving an individual should be done in love just as God has done for us. For God
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so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16, KJV).
Forgiveness is a strong character that many individuals have a hard time dealing with and
accepting. When an individual deals with an issue from another individual, it affects them
socially and emotionally. When an individual’s social and emotional health is affected, issues
come about. The issues that are seen in individuals are social problems, anxiety, depression,
suicidal attempts, eating disorders, and psychological and behavior issues. As a counselor
working with an individual, it is important to know what issues are going on with the individual.
With knowing what issues are socially or emotionally, this will allow the counselor to know how
to incorporate both psychology and Christian perspectives in the sessions. When the individual is
able to understand how important it is to forgive the individual that has hurt them, they will be
able to move past the past and live a better life.
Forgiveness is an important virtue in Christianity and is now sometimes used in
psychological methodologies. When the two integrated, forgiveness was used to connect the two
disciplines. When an individual is able to forgive themself, they are able to do this because of
having social relationships with other people that are religious. Christians that tend to have self
forgiveness show that they tend to rely more on attending worship services and get spiritual
support from fellow church members. When having support from other individuals, an individual
feels that they have been forgiven and feels the forgiveness from God. An individual will feel a
strong sense of self-worth, when they feel they have been forgiven by God. Spiritual support
works better when both of the individuals have a good relationship with each other. Self-
forgiveness is a process and being spiritually connected with other individuals and God, is one
way an individual can be able to forgive themselves.
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Forgiveness can be conditional or unconditional. An individual can have the choice to
forgive an individual who has offended them. If an individual understands the way an individual
acts then they can move on with their life. The individual that has caused the harm has to accept
that they have done wrong, so that individual can forgive them. A study was conducted using the
Unconditional Forgiveness Scale to see how individual’s beliefs were about conditional
forgiveness. The results showed no difference in men and women when conducting the study.
When an individual is being direct with forgiveness, it is better for the individual. Being direct,
the individual that has hurt the individual will have knowledge of knowing if the individual has
forgiven them or not forgiven them. Understanding how to be a forgiving individual helps them
to know to feel better and know they are worthy of getting past the issue that has happened.
Being able to move past the issue, the individual has a better sense of self-worth on being able to
forgive others.
Individuals whose levels of forgiveness also have better mental and physical health.
When an individual forgives other individuals, they are able to remove any negative emotions,
which help individuals feel burden and stress free. Forgiveness has become a big topic in the
field of psychology because of how it helps individuals to work through incidents that have
harmed them. This useful tool has been used in counseling and improved the individuals mental
and physical health, emotions, behaviors, and life. This shows that forgiveness is a Christian
value and also serves as a way for psychological theories. Teaching individuals to forgive is a
process that helps them to overcome the tough time they are going through. Discussing the
process with the individual will help them to be more like God.
Forgiveness is how a person forgives themself, others, and how to accept forgiveness.
The way an individual accepts forgiveness can affect their mental health. Divine forgiveness
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relates to a greater purpose in life, reduced anxiety, and improved psychological health. Religion
is a way that promotes improved mental strength due to positive implementation of religious
coping, community support, and positive belief. A study conducted showed that positive results
from an individual’s participation in spiritual healing, helps with an individual’s spiritual well-
being and satisfaction. Using prayer and having a healthy relationship with God is very
important to help an individual move forward in their daily lives.
Compassion is a big part of forgiveness. Having compassion allows an individual to be
able to forgive another individual that has caused them pain in their life. When a counselor is
working with an individual, it is very important that they keep an open-mind. Having an open-
mind will help an individual to feel free from what has happened in their lives. When an
individual is dealing with hurt and they want to be able to forgive the individual that hurt them,
the individual will need to be ready to face the issue, accept doubt, and be open to change. If an
individual can follow these three steps, this will help them to move on with their life and the
individual will feel that they have been forgiven by God.
Individuals also will forgive individuals that hurt them because they feel the need to
belong. When an individual feels the need to belong, it is because they do not want to let the
individual that has caused them harm out of their lives. The need to belong is a need that is
secure and a way to maintain a minimum number of personal relationships and being connected
with others is good for their health and well-being. With an individual having the need to belong,
they will forgive the wrong doings of an individual, which is not healthy to an individual. The
individual will walk around with hurt and hold grudges towards the other individual. Working
together is a way that two individuals should solve the issue so that they can keep the
relationship the individual desires to have.
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Promoting forgiveness in families, couples, and any relationship is very important to help
individuals in their lives. Individuals struggle with forgiveness even as Christians. Christians will
tend to use spiritual beliefs to forgive anyone who is a part of their lives. Coping with the hurt
another individual has caused can re-establishing the relationship or engage in revenge to the
individual. When an individual forgives the other individual, their negative emotions subside.
They are less likely to seek revenge and the individual will feel love, compassion, sympathy, or
empathy. When an individual announces that they forgive the other individual, they really are not
forgiving them. It is very important that an individual talks and works through the issue that has
occurred in their lives.
Conclusion
This paper discusses forgiveness and how it integrates psychology and Christianity
through using God’s word and the science of psychology. Forgiveness is a way that integration
of psychology and Christianity is beneficial to both of the disciplines. When using Christian
perspectives when working with an individual, it helps for the individual to improve their health
and relationships. Integrating forgiveness with psychology and Christianity, allows a way to
approach issues that are in an individual’s life and help that individual to overcome and have a
sense of self-worth. Individuals can have a hard time accepting forgiving others which show
weakness and emotions that individuals are not able to deal with. Using God’s word and works is
a way to help individuals to feel the relief and comfort they need to know that they are able to
forgive and that they have been forgiven by God. In future endeavors of studying forgiveness
and the integration of psychology and Christianity, each discipline needs to be examined and
examined by each individual to see how forgiveness helps the individual using both disciplines.
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